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Comparatives and superlatives – Top Trumps

This is a classic. I find Top Trumps are a fun way to practise comparatives (mainly) and superlatives with young learners. Here’s something I did recently…

The topic was ‘Wild World’, but talk of animals like polar bears feels a bit far removed from hot and humid Bangkok! I tried to give students vocabulary to explain the nature around them. I selected about 16 animals you come across in Bangkok, and introduced/practised the vocab in various ways. Then I gave students these blank Top Trump cards with each animal on:

I went overboard with the animals… I’m a birdwatcher so some of the vocab was a bit specific (i.e. Brahminy Kite, ha!).

Anyway…

I elicited adjective forms of each category (power = powerful, danger rating = dangerous, etc). Adaptability was a bit of a stretch to be honest – needed quite a bit of concept checking!

Students worked together to give each animal a score from 1-10 (1 least, 10 most) for each category.

They used target language to do this (How fast is a… A tiger’s faster than… Buffalo’s the biggest… etc). They found it easier to order the cards in their chosen ranking first, then write in the numbers

I gave them a bit of process language for the game: ‘Buffalo. Power, 6. What have you got?’ etc.

“The more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled.― Paulo Freire